Page 11 of Full Speed to a Crash Landing

“—want me to just nap and eat for the rest of your mission, whatever it is, I am absolutely, one hundred percent fine with that. I’m a good scavenger, but I’ll be honest, where I really excel at life is in eating and napping.”

That much is true.

“What are the conditions like down there?” Rian gets off the bed and leans over me, peering through the porthole. The scent of him fills my senses—I can’t even describe it; it’s just acleansmell but something unique to him, something that fills me up.

“It’s hot,” I say.

My head’s leaned back on the porthole, looking up at him, the planet in the corner of my vision. “So hot down there that the suit almost isn’t enough. There’s a layer of rocky earth, but that planet’s new. Stomp too hard and magma comes up.”

“That’ll make loaders difficult.”

“That’s not your problem,” I say.

“Oh?” He’s got one elbow on the carbonglass, and he drops his gaze to me. I’m caged in by his body and the ship, and usually that sort of positioning makes me claustrophobic, but right now, all I really want to do is close the space between us. Instead, I loll my head on the carbonglass, the smooth surface cooling my flushed cheeks.

“You gotta think,” I say, looking out at the black, “Roundaboutcrashedintothe planet. Notontoit.”

It takes him a second. “So, parts of the ship were engulfed by lava?”

“I’m guessing. I only saw the aft. I’m thinking the full brunt of the impact was forward. The nose of the ship, hitting a barely cooled surface. It’s not just the impact you got to worry about; it’s also the conditions of the planet fucking everything else up. So, if you’re looking for something on the bridge of that ship? It’s probably not just crushed but also burned up by lava.”

There’s a distant look on Rian’s face. I’m still facing the window, but I can see his reflection. And he doesn’t know that I see the subtle shake of his head, the firm belief that whatever he’s looking for is still down there. That’s not hope—there’s no desperation to his movement. No, he’s certain. Whatever he’s looking for, it’s still there.

He just has to find it.

It’s either not on the bridge, or it’s protected somehow,I think. And, it goes without saying, it’s worth something. A lot of something.

“It makes me wonder what went wrong,” Rian says.

He’s still focused on the ship. And it’s a fair question. All of space, the empty black void, where a ship could just break down and call for help...and it crashed. Into a planet. Made of lava.

“It does make salvage difficult,” I say. “I’m a lot more used to ghost ships in the black.”

Rian glances down at me, but I’m still pretending to look out of the window. “That sounds lonely.”

I close my eyes. “It can be.”

“Is it always just you and your ship?”

I debate whether or not to tell him the truth. “No,” I say finally.

He doesn’t ask more, but it’s weighing on my mind now. “When it is just me, though, I tend to only do the push jobs.”Glorycan be used as a tugboat, pushing a dead ship through the void of space to a scrapyard station. Size doesn’t matter, not in space, not where gravity and friction don’t exist.

“This isn’t that,” Rian points out.

“Nope.”

“What made you pick up a dangerous mission likeRoundabout?It’s a lot more labor-intensive than just hauling scrap.”

I creak open an eyelid. He’s watching me. I could feel it even before I looked. And even when I open both my eyes, he doesn’t look away.

“Girl’s gotta eat,” I say, shrugging.

He doesn’t buy it, but he lets it slide. That’s how I know he knows I’m dancing with lies and half-truths. Someone trying to figure out the truth knows when to let silence do the interrogation. And he thinks he’s pegged me and time will make me trust him. He’s got sharp eyes, but it’s in the way his shoulders are relaxed—he’s certain of himself. He’s one of those calm guys who just know it won’t take anything but time and persistence to get what he wants. He’s in a marathon and thinks I’m sprinting.

I kick my legs up on the ledge and turn to the window, really looking down at the planet now. “You wanna know what gets me?” I say.

He makes a curious sound. I can still feel him watching me.

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